I'm with MLE: the Frostbite engine's audio mixer is just not good from a positional standpoint, though that's frankly the least of my worries with the Battlefield series post-2142 in general.

Also, I recall MLE saying that he didn't like smooth headphones when asked if he'd review the HTF600. It's a surprise for him to be enjoying the HD650's smoothness after reading that...not that I can really picture "smooth" treble given that the headphones I tend to favor are fast enough to not smooth over fine details in the sound, even if they don't exaggerate and shove said details into your ears.

I dont find these as smooth as people led me to believe. They still have plenty of edge and sharpness. Just playing BLOPS, I found them revealing and aggressive enough for competitive gaming, so I dunno. The only time I felt them being a bit too laid back was with rock, and similar hard, aggressive genres.

I'm the same way. I'm not a fan of the competitive multiplayer, but the campaigns can get pretty darn epic at times. And they're tons of fun in co-op.

Also, I have always and will always love driving the vehicles in Halo games. Loved them since the very first time I got in warthog on Halo: CE and spent hours trying to ramp it off cliffs and run over my fellow marine buddies. Who doesn't love filling up a warthog with marines then driving it over a cliff and sticking it with grenades?

When I get sick of deathmatch or capture the territories modes in FPS games, which happens a lot (almost always at the back of my mind), I crave co-op. And Halo 4 has a godly co-op!

Co-op campaign worked pretty well, there were plenty of enemies, ammo, challenge, and all the cutscenes play (w/ option to skip). It's pretty much the same formula as in past Halo Campaign co-op methods, although there are a few QuickTime events that I realized I could sit back and let the lobby host do them. You still view them from first-person perspective, so it's pretty seamless.

I also played the first spartan ops mission before passing out... I'd say it's more like Mass Effect 3's multiplayer with how they give you mission objectives, but there is also cutscenes to give the missions context. I won't spoil anything, but suffice to say VERY fun!

One thing I will say about Campaign... AI driving still sucks, particularly banshee pilots, I'm kinda dismayed how many times I've seen an enemy giving me a pretty good challenge, but then I turn and there's another banshee stuck flying at a pylon. Some of the new promethian weapons are neat, but they mostly don't alter the way you play... Eg humans have the assault rifle (like an M4), Covenant have the Storm rifle (plasma version of AR, trades effectiveness against shields for less against unshielded + less accuracy), and the Promethian Suppressor... it's basically the smg from past halo games with large clip size and massive bloom. No big deal.

Audio
Audio is delicious, but DAMN some sounds are loud! Warthog effectively drowns out any other sounds. BUT the guns all sound mean, meaty, and hefty, very satisfying, and I am happy to say that directionality is quite good while on foot.

The Battle Rifle sounds and functions a lot like the BR from the Halo2 campaign trailer, IMO more satisfying than what that game eventually went with, plasma weapons burn through the air instead of "pew pew," and the DMR and Sniper sound particularly dangerous

Someone mentioned worry about the music being tied to the sound effects... well, from level 5 or 6 that I'm on, so far music has been cued by your character reaching a certain area (or view), though it does calm down if you hang out in an area after the fighting finishes. Side comment away from music though, the game does a good job of making you want to keep going. The music itself seems to have a touch of Mass Effect 2 style... Maybe 3, but I haven't played that besides the fun beta/demo yet. The music is good, at times quite good, but it doesn't have that unique, believable sci-fi feeling that the strangely fitting Gregorian Chants had in previous games, or the jazz-y solemn tunes I loved in the rainy ODST game.

As I said above, positional sounds are good, superior to MW3 even in singleplayer. The more I get used to virtual surround, the more I can sense the limitations of 5.1 surround channels, but never the less Halo 4 makes good use of surround sound. The "bolts" from Covenant weapons can nearly be traced back through the flight path as they wiz by, soundstage distance is processed by the game (occlusion is a bit less pronounced than Halo 3, but... still good), and you can easily be the sneaky one as NPC enemies chatter around the corner. I'm going to hold off on any comparative statements about how good positional cues are in competitive multiplayer until I actually play it, and play it for a while.

One thing that bugs me, and I would try to gather Head-fi'ers to petition with me if I could, is that there are no in-game volume adjustments. I like turning down the sound effects a bit in single-player so I can hear music and vocals better, but even a basic "master game volume" slider is a huge boon for people who don't have a Mixamp to balance chat and game audio... In CoD, I turn up the volume on my amp (Recon3D, FiiO amp, or receiver) so that the chat is louder, and turn down the game volume to comfortable levels. Xbox Live chat volume is annoyingly weak, IMO.

Chicolom,
Plenty of fun driving sequences road kill is fun, though occasionally I get an urge to recreate the "Warthog Jumping" videos by Randall Glass

fair enough, but surely you don't play games solely for their positional audio.

edit: in other words i'm looking for general gaming impressions. but i'm the one asking for the favor here, so if you don't play those games no biggie

I play BF3, it's pretty fun and pretty much everyone will agree that the sound effects are good, but positional audio isn't really emphasized much in either the super-long distance fights or straight corridors... basically, surround doesn't IMO give you a constant advantage compared to stereo in BF3, whereas it almost feels like you're cheating in BO and Reach. Haven't played Halo 4 competitive yet, though impressions from the rest of the game are encouraging.

I will more than likely switch from the HD650 to the 990 every hour, just to get a feel at how the HD650 compares. I heard the audio is really good in the game, so im hopeful.Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 11/6/12 at 10:14pm

One thing that bugs me, and I would try to gather Head-fi'ers to petition with me if I could, is that there are no in-game volume adjustments.
Chicolom,
Plenty of fun driving sequences road kill is fun, though occasionally I get an urge to recreate the "Warthog Jumping" videos by Randall Glass

Thanks for the impressions/review.

That doesn't seem right that a AAA game would not have volume adjustments. Maybe it is moved to different menu somewhere? Seems like Reach put in an odd spot too.

I definitely look forward to ramping and crashing the vehicles into each other.

EDIT: Just saw Game Informer's review - "Sound:A new benchmark in sound effect design, and an imaginative new score – but no manual control of the audio mix is a drag."

Wow guys... Just beat the game for the first time. This... Is going to be one to collect. How many shooters get you to care about the characters? You guys... are in for a treat.

Campaign feels very fast paced, you constantly have to be moving, acquiring targets, be a little amped. And like I said, it's a good story, and you care about chief, Cortana, and the other characters you are introduced to. I find it amusing that my one JRPG addicted friend said in response to me inviting him to play it with me, that I only have taste for generic shooters and multiplayer... but more than that, I'm kinda sad he's going to miss out because he doesn't trust me.

Uses Granny animation... Lol gotta love credits.

Chicolom, it is very strange, but I've looked over each option. No joy.

Parting thoughts: I am grateful you guys liked my impressions. Hope I was able to give you a taste without giving spoilers.

Chicolom, it is very strange, but I've looked over each option. No joy.

My biggest gripe with the game thus far, which is saying a lot. I would have expected separate levels of adjustment for SFX, Music, and maybe voice.... new sound engine maybe? Hopefully this is something they can patch. Ev- I'll gladly be the second sig on that petition.

I think you might find the multi-player pretty enjoyable MLE-gone is the grenade, grenade, shoot, shoot, shoot, melee, melee gameplay of Halos past. 343 replaced it with a much more intense, fast paced COD-like experience (complete with "classes" and "killstreaks"). However they kept the rock-paper-scissors type weapon dominance of past Halo games... when equally skill players meet, many times the weapons will determine the outcome, and knowing your effective ranges becomes increasingly important.

I'll also tip my hat to the thread regulars for not posting "knob" jokes... You sirs are gentlemen and scholars.Edited by ruuku - 11/7/12 at 3:11am

Hoping someone with halo4 could test something for me? Was wondering if the music and SFX were tied together as one like in Reach. So you need to start the game then use the home button to load some of your own music then pause your music and return to the game. If the SFX and voices still work with out the booming Halo soundtrack then I will be snapping a copy up ASAP. I love game sound tracks but only for so long.